


you got a hollow-point smile

by monstermash



Series: the hand in the garden [6]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: Gen, winona and jericho are not good or nice people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-18 02:17:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13090323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monstermash/pseuds/monstermash
Summary: I'm shooting out of this roomBecause I sure don't like the company





	you got a hollow-point smile

**Author's Note:**

> i'll probably come back and edit this at some point, but i just want it posted for now so i don't forget about it lmao
> 
> also just a heads up but winona and jericho aren't nice or good people

Despite the fact that the brat, Winona, still came around to bug him, Jericho was enjoying his retirement from being a raider.

Hell, he was actually kind of shocked he even managed to get _to_ retirement age. Most raiders ended up dead in a ditch from overdose or from fucking around with grenades. Sometimes they’d end up in those ditches in clown costumes for god’s sake. (Don’t ask, he used to work with some real weirdos. Seriously, do _not_ ask.)

Anyway, retirement and Winona still coming around to bug him.

In all honesty he could just avoid her if he really wanted to, her ginger afro giving her away the minute she walks through the town gate, but Jericho doesn’t move as quick as he used to. (He complains and calls her a brat a lot, but sometimes her presence is a relief to be around after having to interact with the people of Megaton.)

Speak of the devil, there she was, walking through Megaton’s gate and grinning like a shark (Literally. Her damn teeth were filed down to sharp points.) causing the crowd to give her a wide berth.

She comes to a stop in front of his chair, still grinning.

“Hey geriatric, how ya been?”

“Was doing fine ‘til your snot nosed face showed up. What do you want?”

“Got some work for Eulogy Jones. Should be easy enough that even an arthritic old fuck like you can do it.”

He should turn down her offer, he should really turn it down, he’s supposed to be fucking retired. 

_Say no,_ a voice says in the back of his mind. _You’re too damn old to be running around the wastes with the brat. She’s gonna get you killed if you say yes._

Jericho’s eyes narrow as he looks out over Megaton, arguing with himself over this.

 _Don’t need the money, you’re set for life._

_But then again, it would be great to actually fuck shit up for kicks, just like the old days._

_This is Winona though, she’ll get you killed. It doesn’t matter if she’s got a soft spot for ya – well, as close as a psycho like Winona can get to a soft spot for someone – if you go with her you can kiss the rest of your life goodbye._

_Do you really wanna get old and frail though? Do you really wanna turn into a pathetic old man?_

“So what’s it gonna be, old man? In or out?”

Jericho agrees without a second thought. So much for retirement.

\---

“So riddle me this, brat; how the hell is Eulogy Jones paying for this? Paradise Falls got blown to hell by that Lone Wanderer kid a few months ago, so how do we know he’s got the caps to pay for whatever job he’s got us on?”

There’s that shark smile again, she looks so damn gleeful. Winona’s probably got murder on the mind or something.

“See, that’s the beauty of it. Eulogy Jones wants us bring him in to his new base of operations. Wants a little pay back, so to speak. We get to keep the guy’s gear and caps and anything else that’s valuable, so long as we bring him in alive.”

Jericho just looks at her before he starts laughing, quiet at first before it ratchets up to nearly hysterical. He’d always known Winona was crazy, but he didn’t think she’d be this fucking _nuts._

“You want to go after the Lone Wanderer? The guy who basically destroyed the Enclave and pretty much has the Brotherhood quietly shaking in their boots? Don’t even try to fuckin’ argue with me about that either. Those damn tin cans might be good at acting tough, but they’re scared of him.”

“So what? You backing out?” she sneers at him.

“Hell no, I wanna be there when your ass gets handed to you,” he snickers as he follows her out of Megaton.

“As if,” Winona says as she starts off in the direction of Rivet City. “I’ve got a plan. We’re gonna need some help though and I know who’d be perfect.”

\---

“Knock, knock,” Winona calls out with her shark toothed grin. “Jaybird, my man, how you been, buddy?”

Apparently the brat’s idea of backup was a scarred up blond kid and a dumb looking vaultie.

Jericho remains silent as he leans against the tiny apartment’s door frame and observing the interaction happening before him.

The blond kid’s hands are flying in a frenzy of signals Jericho doesn’t understand and the kid looks shocked and furious. Winona laughs at whatever it is the kid says to her, one of those mean laughs she does (thinking back on it, he can’t recall if he’s ever heard a nice laugh out of her; it’s not like she has a nice bone in her body and Jericho scowls at the unsettling thought of Winona ever being nice. The bombs would probably drop again if she ever tried), and the vaultie looks back and forth between Winona and the mute kid like he isn’t sure if he should get ready to start swinging.

Knowing Winona it’s probably a safe bet.

“Aw, come on, let’s go get a drink, catch up,” Winona says and blondie either stupidly trusts that shark grin of hers or he knows her well enough to know that she won’t fuck off until she gets her way.

\---

The Muddy Rudder is just as much a shithole as Jericho remembers it being.

The bar’s waitress comes back with a bottle of whiskey and four tumblers, small scratches on the glass showing the wear and tear of them over the years, and leaves when Winona opens the bottle.

Winona slides a glass of whiskey to everyone at the table; Jericho immediately downs his and reaches for the bottle, blondie lets his drink sit in front of him, and vaultie slides his drink over to Jericho who drinks it without a word.

“What, whiskey not good enough for ya, vault dweller?” Winona asks, a grin stretching from ear to ear but her eyes are cold.

“I don’t drink anymore,” vaultie tells her, and it doesn’t mean anything, but Jericho knows that Winona takes it as an insult, a snub, anyway. She’s always been touchy about weird, dumb shit. He doesn’t get it, probably never will, but he knows she’s got some strange ticks that make no god damn sense.

“Quit it with the dick measuring competition, brat,” Jericho tells her as he swats at the back of her head. “We came here for a reason.”

She rolls her eyes, letting it go for now, and turns back to blondie.

“So Jaybird, how’s being a ranger suiting ya? Incredibly boring, right?”

Jericho drowns a groan with more whiskey, drinking directly from the bottle this time; he’s the only one who’s been drinking it anyway. Winona might be an incredibly efficient psychopath, but good lord her skills of persuasion could really use some work.

“Jaybird” does some more of those weird hand signals, eyes narrowed and mouth pursed as he looks back at Winona.

“Because that place was a dump and you know it,” she replies exasperatedly. “I knew you wouldn’t leave with me so I left.”

More angry hand signals, cue mean laugh from Winona and a wary look from the vaultie who seems to be following the conversation whereas Jericho has given up completely in favor of getting drunk.

“Well, _duh._ Who do you think told them where Little Lamplight was?”

A cold kind of tension descends upon them, noticeable enough for Jericho to put down the mostly empty whiskey bottle and fucking pay attention.

Two chairs scrape back violently against the metal floor of the bar and Winona and Jaybird are lunging at each other over the damn table. Jericho sighs as he saves the whiskey bottle from smashing onto the floor and decides to just sit back and let the two brats tire themselves out.

The two are absolutely vicious with each other and it reminds him a lot of his days back in Paradise Falls watching two raiders going at it over something stupid like who stole whose drugs. Jericho takes out his pack of cigarettes and absentmindedly offers one to the vaultie who just looks at him like he’s insane but accepts one anyway.

Vaultie’s smarter than he looks if he’s caught on this quick to not interfere. He’d only get chewed up anyway with the way these two are going at it, punches and kicks and head-butts and throwing each other into furniture.

The fight will end soon enough anyway; either one of them – or both – dies or security shows up and puts an end to it.

\---

In the end, Jericho and Winona get kicked out and banned from the Muddy Rudder.

They’re at the other end of Rivet City’s bridge, on the platform that leads down and out to the rest of the wasteland. When they’re walking side by side (he has no idea where they’re going honestly) he can see the little psycho crying. Not tears of sadness or of fear, no, nothing like that; Winona only cries when there’s too much anger in her and her tiny, snake like psychopathic brain can’t handle it.

Kinda like when a computer overheats or something. 

Fuck if he knows, he’s never really been much of a tech guy.

\---

The brat still wants to go after the Lone Wanderer, seemingly more determined after the huge blow up with Jaybird and vaultie from Rivet City. The blond dumbass must’ve said something to her because now this seems more personal than about the caps.

“Just can’t stand some goody two shoes running around,” Winona says when he asks.

“Right, because we’ll totally succeed where Talon Company failed,” he deadpans. “Glad to know I unwittingly signed up for a suicide mission. Fan-fucking-tastic.”

“Quit your bitching, old man,” she sneers before grinning and getting up in his face. “‘Cause see, you and me? We’re the god damn _dream team_ and we’re way better than those jackasses in Talon Company or those two idiots in Rivet City.”

Jericho makes a disgusted face as he shoves her face away from him. “Gross, keep your snotty face away from me.”

She cackles and her grin is looking less like a shark’s and more like a deathclaw’s.

\---

Jericho doesn’t know how she did it but _Jesus Christ_ did she really do it.

Eulogy Jones’ new Paradise Falls is on fire and there’s explosions happening every few moments; he isn’t sure how much of the chaos is Winona’s fault or the Lone Wanderer’s. Either way the brat seems to be reveling in it, in the panicked screams of the slaves, in the blood and gunfire.

It’s some real fire and brimstone bullshit.

“Top of the world, ma!” Winona crows from where she stands on top of an overturned cage, shooting at everyone she lays her eyes on.

“Could you shut the hell up for two minutes?” Jericho hisses at her as he shoots at a raider who had been gunning for them.

 _Shoulda stayed retired, idiot,_ he thinks to himself as he focuses on keeping the both of them alive. There’s the sound of gunshots and pained screams and when he looks to his left he sees why.

Jericho gets a good look at the Lone Wanderer and the giant ghoul when the two start heading towards them through the flames and smoke and he knows they’re in for it now.

He holsters his gun as he swings up onto the top of the cage and lifts the little psycho up and over his shoulder despite her howling protests and starts running towards the nearest blown up fence to get them the hell out of dodge.

\---

“What the hell! We could’ve taken them, old man!”

Jericho managed to get them as far away as possible from the burning remains of the new Paradise Falls and away from the Lone Wanderer. He exhales explosively, glaring at the brat and trying for the millionth time to get it through her thick skull.

“No, we couldn’t have,” he tells her. “We got in way too over our heads. _You_ got in way too over your head. If I hadn’t gotten us out of there when I did we’d be dead.”

Winona glares right back at him, but thankfully doesn’t say shit.

“So what now then?” Winona asks after a few long minutes of silence. “Eulogy Jones is probably dead for good now and you can’t go back to Megaton because that goody two shoes knows your face.”

Jericho shrugs. He figured he’d be more pissed about having to abandon his house, but honestly it wasn’t that great, just a shitty sheet metal shack.

“We could go west. Heard New Vegas is a real riot. Plenty of shit to blow up in the Mojave, lots of work for Mercs out there.”

Winona snorts.

“You just wanna go because you hate the winters here.”

“Like you don’t?”

He claps her on the shoulder.

“C’mon brat, the lights of Vegas are waiting.”

\---

_Paradise Falls goes quiet when the gurgling shrieks of Mac start up, over by the slave pens._

_Jericho isn't too interested in whatever the hell is happening; Mac was a fucking creep, always hanging out around the pens where they kept the child slaves._

_"Holy shit, you gotta come see this!"_

_With a put upon sigh, he gets up from his seat and takes the bourbon with him. One of the little shits probably had a shiv or something and cut Mac when the creep got too close. If anything it's Mac's own damn fault, but if it's something embarrassing then Jericho will probably get a few laughs out of it._

_Of course, it's a hell of a lot more disturbing._

_Jericho turns the corner and almost crashes into the guy who had called him over._

_There's a girl - probably no older than maybe 14 - crouched over Mac, who's had his throat torn out, a bloody mess being made as blood sprays out of the man's neck as he opens and closes his mouth like a gaping fish._

_The little girl's head turns to look at them and Jericho can't help but laugh at how fucked up this all looks. The girl looks stunned by the fact that she has an audience to tearing out Mac's throat, but then she grins, showing off sharp, blood stained teeth, and laughs along with Jericho. The girl rises from her crouch and walks up to him, and Jericho laughs harder at the way the guy who had called him over fucking trips over himself to get away from the kid. Jericho's laughing so hard he's crying a bit when the girl pats his face and leaves behind a bloody hand print._

_"That's fucking disgusting you little psycho. Didn't your mama teach you some fucking manners? Go wash your grubby hands."_

**Author's Note:**

> for those of you who are curious, the reason why winona and jay get into a fight in the bar is because winona was the one who gave the location of little lamplight to the people at paradise falls and that's why kids would get stolen from there (until yasha and charon burned the place down)


End file.
